


Candy Striper

by indefensibleselfindulgence



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 11:51:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17100062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indefensibleselfindulgence/pseuds/indefensibleselfindulgence
Summary: “Tired sick or canceled class sick?”“The second one.”“Fuck.”





	Candy Striper

**Author's Note:**

> you know, like the pink uniformed volunteers in hospitals? like in the pink dresses from the 60s? and not like i misspelled stripper? 
> 
> Yeah
> 
> not beta'd

Caleb wakes up to his alarm with maybe the worst headache he's had in his entire life.  
  
Just maybe.  
  
His body doesn't feel any better- joints aching and what feels like a definite fever burning in his chest. The blankets are kicked down to his ankles and when he struggles to make the alarm stop the combined nausea and lightheadedness almost make him fall out of the bed. When did he get sick? He was fine yesterday.  
  
His laptop is where he left it, inches from his face and the light of the monitor makes him want to die. His class starts in an hour so if he emails his students now, it should still be fine right? Sure. His TAs might have a problem with it, but he's so beyond caring right now.  
  
He types the email out one letter at a time and sends it off just as his phone rings, tumbled somewhere in his covers. It transfers to his laptop after a bit and Caleb just barely manages to connect it in time.  
  
“Honey, darling, sweetheart, baby, I can't help but notice you're not here.” Molly's voice drowns out most of the coffeeshop din. He can just barely hear the Christmas music in the background. “Did you stay up all night and forget again?”  
  
“No-” Talking hurts too. “No- is it-” He looks at the clock again. How long had his alarm been going off for? “I mean- Scheisse- I” He clears his throat.  
  
“You sound like you're dying.”  
  
“Well, maybe a little bit.” He rolls over and presses his face back into the pillow. “I'm sorry, Mollymauk.”  
  
“Wait are you actually dying?” It sounds like he steps outside. There's no more Christmas music. “Caleb?”  
  
“Mm- sick. Very sick.” He groans. “Ja- very sick.”  
  
“Tired sick or canceled class sick?”  
  
“The second one.”  
  
“Fuck.” Molly draws the word out, long and weighty. “You never cancel classes.”  
  
“Ja- yes. Ja.”  
  
“Do you need someone to drive you to the hospital?”  
  
“Mm- no hospitals.” He's not a fan of doctors at the best of times. And it's not like he has enough to cover the co-pay right now. “I'll just- sleep it off.”  
  
“If it's cancel class bad you shouldn't-” Molly's voice fades out a bit. It's cold and hot, and he shakes a little, fever tremors before he tugs the blanket back up to his chin. “Okay?”  
  
“It's fine.” He doesn't know what he's saying it's fine too.  
  
“Okay, yeah. I'll tell him where the key is. Try and- I don't know. Feel better? I'll drop by after work.”  
  
“Ja- Gutt-”  
  
He doesn't know when Molly drops the call, but he's out like a light almost instantly.  
  
He dreams of Mollymauk and the coffee date he had finally worked up the nerve to ask him too. He's sure it would have gone great.

  
…

  
He wakes up when a hand shakes his shoulder.  
  
“Hey.” It takes Caleb a second to recognize Caduceus' soft deep voice. Caleb turns over, shivering again. The firbolg waves at him. “How bad are you feeling, Mr. Caleb?”  
  
“Ah- übel.” He frowns. “Why are you in my house?”  
  
“Molly told me to check on you. He said you knew?” Caleb just shrugs. Tries to shrug. “Okay well, I already cleaned your apartment for you.”  
  
“What-” Caleb looks at the clock. Four hours have passed since the phone call. Molly's off work in two. “How long have you-”  
  
“Just a while. Do you need anything? He told me to babysit you.”  
  
“Are those the words he used?” His voice is scratchy, and when he manages the sentence, he's thrown into a coughing fit. “You can go- I'll be fine-” And then he's coughing again. Caduceus pats his chest lightly.  
  
“I'll get you some tea.”  
  
He shuffles off in a pair of slippers Caleb is pretty sure he doesn't own, tail swishing lazily. After a while, he thinks he can hear the kettle on so he closes his eyes.  
  
It's shockingly easy to drift off, but Caduceus's big warm hand shakes him awake gently.  
  
“Ah-”  
  
“You need fluids, Mr. Caleb.”  
  
“Your voice is nice.”  
  
Caduceus blinks slowly like Frumpkin does sometimes and- oh god, his cat. Caleb sits up in bed too quickly, and he imagines this is what getting shot through the head must feel like.  
  
“What's wrong?”  
  
“Meine Katze- Frumpkin-” Calling out for him feels Awful, but Caduceus puts a hand on his shoulder to settle him down. “Ah-”  
  
“I fed him when I got here, I think he's sleeping on the window. Here, I'll go get him. Can you hold this on your own?” He holds out the mug, and Caleb takes it, only spilling a drop on his finger. “Okay.”  
  
Does he even have tea in his cabinets?  
  
Probably Molly's. Or Jester's. Or maybe even Yasha's.  
  
It smells like heat and ginger, and he's only kind of dreading it already.  
  
He can hear mumbling, Caduceus, probably at his cat, and then Frumpkin jumps onto the bed and rubs against Caleb's back, already purring.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“Drink your tea.”  
  
He does.  
  
It's sweeter then he expected it to be, and the warmth it sends down his chest feels really nice.  
  
“Such a strict nurse.” He mumbles, and Caduceus laughs, low and slow and sweet, like always.  
  
“It's for your own benefit, Mr. Caleb.”  
  
They sit, well, he sits, and Caduceus stands in relative silence until Caleb finishes his tea and holds it out for Caduceus to take back.  
  
“Did Mollymauk really tell you to babysit me?”  
  
“He said you weren't feeling well. And then he told me where you kept your spare key, so. I think he just assumed I would come by.”  
  
“Don't you work on the weekdays?”  
  
“My sister said she'd cover for me.”  
  
He didn't know a lot about Caduceus, just that he had a big family that worked in a cemetery, and that he was a part-time student at Caleb's university. That's about it. He's not even a hundred percent sure what he's studying. But Caduceus had a class with Jester once, and he's more or less been jumped into their friend group from there.  
  
“I feel guilty then.”  
  
“She doesn't mind. She has to pack for a trip, and I think she's ready to do just about anything to get out of it.”  
  
“Ah- well then. I don't even know where you work.”  
  
“The big cemetery out past the highway.” Caduceus shrugs.  
  
“Oh. That's funny.” Caleb mumbles and falls back on the mattress, another bought of shivers overtaking him.  
  
“Suppose it is.” Caduceus leaves and comes back a moment later with pills. “Come on, Mr. Caleb.”  
  
“Ja okay.” He opens his mouth and waits. Caduceus pulls him up until he's sitting, vision swimming and he presses the pills into Caleb's hand. “Can I sleep now?”  
  
“Take them first.” He does, and it's hard not to gag until Caduceus pushes a bottle of water into his hands.  
  
He falls back on the mattress and closes his eyes. He thinks he hears Caduceus say something, but he can't make out the words. He just feels warm.  
  
Warm and brain dead.

  
…

  
“Hey, Mr. Caleb.” There's a dip in the mattress while Caleb slowly opens his eyes and tries to see straight. Mollymauk's hand is in his hair, delicate nails scratching gently. “You look like shit.”  
  
“Feel it too.” His mouth tastes like ash.  
  
“Yeah, that's what happens when you overwork.” Molly brushes his hair out of the way when Caleb turns over, almost curling around Molly's body.  
  
“Mmm-”  
  
“Thank you for watching him.” Caleb cracks an eye open and sees Caduceus leaning against the door frame.  
  
“He's pleasant company.”  
  
“That he is.” Molly's hand is more solid, solid enough that Caleb can focus only on the singular point of contact. “Darling, I'll be back in a minute.” The dip in the mattress disappears, and Frumpkin curls up in the spot Molly left.  
  
“You won't leave  me will you?” Frumpkin purrs like a jet engine. “I love you.” He mumbles into the soft fur and Frumpkin purrs even louder, all for him.  
  
“Are you sure you didn't cancel our date just to spend your day with him?” Mollymauk is back, taking up so much space.  
  
“I forgot to feed him this morning.”  
  
“You didn't forget.” His voice is exceptionally soft, exceptionally lovely. “You were too sick to move. Caddy told me.”  
  
Caleb buries his face in his hands, trying to hide.  
  
“I'm sorry.” Molly sighs, audibly, never a good sign, and turns him over.  
  
“It happens. You'll feel better, and we'll go somewhere even nicer. Okay?”  
  
“I don't get how you're not mad.”  
  
“It was going to be a fifteen minute Starbucks date, Caleb. It's not the end of the world. Come here.” He hauls Caleb around until his head is in Molly's lap, and he pets his head. “You didn't do anything wrong, and I don't care.”  
  
“I-”  
  
“Do you want me to be mad?”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“Then relax. Focus on getting better. And then I'll- I don't know. Scold you for five minutes. And then we'll get dinner.”  
  
If he was functional, he'd go into an entire tirade about how Caleb doesn't deserve him and how this sort of indifference isn't healthy and that if Molly was mad he should just say so. But he isn't so he lays there for a few minutes and forgets.  
  
“Mollymauk?” He says instead. “Caduceus is a good kid.”  
  
“I think he's older than both of us, darling.”  
  
"Huh."

**Author's Note:**

> comments are always encouraged and very very very appreciated
> 
> talk[ to me here](http://iamalivenow.tumblr.com/)


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